Out of the Chalk. 71 



because there are several springs which might claim the 

 honour. From the heights from which an enemy might 

 shell Croydon with terrible effect there issue many crystal 

 springs, which forthwith, without shaking hands with each 

 other, or in any way exchanging the time of day, proceed to 

 hurry downwards until they approach a spot where a long 

 while ago there stood the palace of their graces the Arch- 

 bishops of Canterbury. In presence of so solemn a spot the 

 rivulets become conscience-stricken, embrace each other, 

 and, united, form for ever after the Wandle, with such 

 additions as they gratefully receive from a branch rising at 

 Waddon, and another that joins fortunes at Shepley House. 



A very useful stream is the Wandle, and an object of 

 beauty everywhere, at least above the point to which the 

 turbid Thames sends its daily tides, with shoals of coarse- 

 minded roach and dace that go up with it to hanker after 

 companionship with the trout in the upper Belgravian 

 regions, to which, however, they luckily do not succeed in 

 penetrating. The Wandle grinds immense quantities of 

 flour ; it has an intimate and valuable connection with the 

 snuff trade ; paper, rough and smooth, is manufactured by 

 Wandle-turned machinery. There are works of a very 

 miscellaneous kind, in short, along the little river, and some 

 of the mills are most picturesque additions to the beautiful 

 park scenery through which it flows. 



Not being in the humour to write four octavo volumes 

 upon this subject, it will be incumbent upon me to deal 

 briefly with the historical associations of the Wandle. Her 

 Gracious Majesty Queen Elizabeth is supposed to have 

 ascended its channel at various times in her State barge, and 

 until very recently there was a venerable tree known from 

 time immemorial as Queen Elizabeth's Oak ; but a local 

 board happened to pass that way, and the revered patriarch 



